The following conversation took place with Hrimmi and Tinni, out on our nearby trails.

Alys: So how are you both doing?
Tinni: Fair
Hrimmi: Really good.
A: Why just fair, Tinni?
T: Hrimmi has such long strides, I have to work to keep up with her.
H: Long to you, short to me.
A: And if we go any slower, it will be a slog.
H: Oh oh, low spot, muddy water here.
A: It’s safe.
H: How do you know?
A: We’ve been going through it fairly often the past two weeks.

Cool Tinny

H: This then, has made this more unsafe.
T: Oh for heaven’s sakes.
H: Well then you go first.
A: Tinni is being ponyed. I can’t put him out front.
H: All right then, I will go around it.
A: I should make you go back and go through it.
H: Nope. Full steam ahead.
T: I went through it and I didn’t have any problem.
H: You are lighter and don’t have a rider.
T: I could feel the base of the trail.
A: Hrimmi, you are going to have to go through the questionable stuff if you want to go on the big trip.
H: What big trip?
A: The one we’re doing next summer.
H: I’ll let the others go first.
T: Am I going?
A: Most likely not.
T: Why not?
A: Because you are semi-retired.
T: What does that mean?
H: It means you get to sit around on your fat ass and eat hay while the rest of us work.
T: I do not have a fat ass.
A: It’s just an expression.
H: I don’t get it.
A: The term originated with the advent of television. Fat asses are people who don’t do much.
H: I thought an ass was a mule.
A: Yes, it is.
H: Ohh, there was that mule on the CTR, the one we rode with. What a strange creature she was – she made that horrific sound and had those oversized ears. And she was reactive. And at night, in her pen, she’d weave back and forth.
A: Obviously she did not endear herself to you.
H: Nope.
T: Was she a fat ass?
A: No she was a skinny ass.
T: A hard worker then?
A: A potentially hard worker. She was very young.
H: She did not want to be out front. Every time her rider put her out front she stopped and waited for Raudi to pass.
T: And did Raudi pass?
H: Yes. Raudi took charge, repeatedly.
T: I remember when Raudi was a very young horse. She did not come by being a good trail horse naturally.
H: I like going on outings with her – she is very trail savvy.
A: So you could do a trip with her?
H: Yes.
A: And Tyra?
H: She doesn’t know what Raudi or Tinni know, but she learns fast.
T: You’re a fun bunch, all of you.
A: Okay. Let’s stop dawdling and pick up the pace.